


our memories blanket us with friends

by mindyfication



Series: I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: (s), Bisexual Character, Doll Alicia, Extremely Dubious Consent, F/M, Post-Episode: s12e20 Twigs and Twine and Tasha Banes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 04:34:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10846572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mindyfication/pseuds/mindyfication
Summary: Alicia wakes up as they pull into the cabin’s driveway.“Hey, sleepy head,” Max says softly, and Alicia rolls her shoulders, tiny crackles that Max ignores.





	our memories blanket us with friends

**Author's Note:**

> Onto track 6, Skylines and Turnstiles ([x](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymHYu5G5Ll8)).

The demon had laughed when he picked up the ring. “A natural, oh I haven’t had one of you in ages. You surrender your soul?” 

Max picks up the blade, “I do.” 

The demon grins, “Excellent. I will come for it in one year.” 

“One year?” he exclaims, had already anticipated the next ten. 

“Soulmates,” the demon says carelessly, “I could offer you a day and you’d take it. Be grateful for the year.” 

The ring flashes purple, and Max rips his sister’s heart out.

.

Alicia sleeps in the jeep, and Max drives far, far away. They can’t hunt anymore, demonic magic left traces and his own magic could never be separated from it, would kill his sister. He drives north, crossing state lines and finally into Canada. They’d visited a few times before on hunts, a tiny lodge in Ontario. Max wasn’t a fan of the place- alone on a lake, too cold and with no civilization for miles- but Alicia _adored_ it. She said she felt closest to her dormant magic there, like there was a faint tune below the usual white noise. 

He needs to tell her, he knows that. But she’s thankfully still sleeping, and who knows how long her heart needs it after being brought back from death. A _necromancer_ he can’t help but think, god his mother would have-

Max blinks away the wetness, focuses on the road. He can’t bring himself to ditch Alicia’s jeep, but he does switch the license plate before crossing the border. 

.

Alicia wakes up as they pull into the cabin’s driveway. 

“Hey, sleepy head,” Max says softly, and Alicia rolls her shoulders, tiny crackles that Max ignores. 

Her face lights up as she takes in the scenery, “The cabin! How long are we here for?” 

“As long as you want baby, I bought it.”

“What!” Alicia exclaims, getting out of the car. “How did you afford-” her smile fades suddenly. “What happened last night?”

“Fuck,” Max mutters. “Don’t ask me about that Lish, not already.”

Her eyes go milky white, and guilt socks him in the gut fast. “I mean, we’ll talk inside.” 

“Okay,” Alicia chirps, doesn’t press like she would before. He feels even more sick, and they bring their stuff inside, Alicia instantly going to her favorite squashy chair by the fireplace. 

“We’re inside,” she says. “What happened?” 

Max breathes easier at that, that she didn’t start putting stuff away or going totally docile on him. The witch’s words have been haunting him, the spell book a heavy weight in his jacket. He’s going to be different, he isn’t going to use any more of the mind magic on Alicia and everything will be okay. 

He sits on the chair beside hers, takes her hand. “What’s the last thing you remember?” 

“I died- Mom’s dead, oh god-” Alicia’s voice breaks, dissolves into sobs. He tightens his grip, wants to shield his sister from everything. Wants them to forget all their pain- no, he isn’t going to mess her up like that. Alicia moves into his lap, curls up and Max holds her as she quiets, as her shakes slow. 

“I’m so sorry sis, you were right and I- you were right,” Max whispers. 

“Didn’t wanna be,” Alicia mumbles. “When we found her, I thought- I was so happy to be wrong.” 

_You’re never wrong though_ , Max thinks, keeps the words under his tongue. It had been so stupid to write off what she’d been saying just because his magic hadn’t warned him. Just because he _wanted_ her to be wrong- about their break, about mom, about-

“I’ve missed you,” Alicia says, kissing him. 

It’s eerily similar to how she kissed him under the mistletoe last Christmas, all alone in their motel room. Her hands even move the same and Max has to stop it, gently pushes her away. 

“What’s wrong?” she asks. “I thought you wanted our break to be over.” 

A chill slams into his spine, “I need to tell you something.” 

Alicia rolls her eyes, “I don’t care about random bartenders you bent over Max.” 

“No I mean, how I brought you back.” 

Alicia cocks her head as if that hadn’t occurred to her until then. She speaks slowly, fingertips skimming down his jaw, “You made a deal.” 

Max closes his eyes briefly, licks his lips. “I took the witch’s magic. You won’t die again while I have it.” 

Alicia shifts in his lap, huffs. “But you can.” 

“Every deal has its downsides.” 

“Downsides?” Alicia exclaims. “You’re marked for hell!” 

“Yeah,” Max sighs. “Lish I couldn’t do it without you. And suicides go to hell anyways-”

Alicia cuts him off with a demanding kiss, one he can’t easily place and she overwhelms him. She always has, but having her here- alive- in his lap, he can’t help but succumb. She tastes like memory, a haunted melody on his lips. He carries her into their bedroom as she drops tiny kisses along his neck.

“Do you think I have a soul?” she asks after. 

“That’s one hell of a post-coital conversation,” Max says dryly, can’t muster up a real joke. 

Alicia slaps his chest playfully, and his heart shudders. It’s the little things like that, too based on old experiences that don’t quite match that remind him what she is. 

“Shut up, really.” 

Max swallows, “I’m not sure. You have your heart and memories, and what’s a person but their personal history?” 

He doesn’t believe his own words, and Alicia doesn’t either, rolling her eyes. 

Her expression goes serious, her mouth turns to a frown. “A copy. I’m a copy.” 

Max swallows, remembers the first time they did this. He brushes her hair behind her ear slow, kisses the corner of her mouth. 

And together, they say, “I love you.” 

Alicia’s eyes sparkle, and Max will recreate memories all year long for that smile. 

.

Living in the past can’t be healthy, but Max is so far beyond caring. They do create new moments sometimes, often more a product of their environment than either of them trying to. Max even grows to love the little cabin, loves its simplicity and safety, predictability and peace. 

He hasn’t put the sim cards back in any of their cell phones, stopped checking his email months ago. Max is sure there are still unanswered texts from Dean, emails from Sam, and he almost feels bad about dropping off the radar like he did. He feels worst about not contacting their grandmother, the only family they have left. But he knows hunters, and he isn’t going to risk Alicia. 

They read books on the porch, bundled up in blankets with a postcard perfect view. They used to read together in front of a roaring fire, but Max isn’t about to let Alicia near one of those. He knows logically that Alicia can’t die while he lives, but he doesn’t want to risk it. 

She never asks how long they have. It’s so un-Alicia it makes him queasy when he thinks about it. But he can’t bear to tell her, can’t break the fantasy of them living in their little cabin forever. They’ve only had domestic bliss once before, and this time, there’s no monster hunt to break it. (Alicia doesn’t need to ask why they don’t hunt, why Max doesn’t use his magic anymore.)

.

A desperate woman comes to him early one morning, three hundred and fourteen days into their year. He has just under two months left before hell, and until she showed up he hadn’t given much thought to passing the ring on. The proper thing would be to destroy it. (The proper thing was long past, burnt to ash.)

She isn’t asking, has a gun pointed to his head. A distant part of him is happy Alicia slept in, that she won’t know death is coming. 

“I need it- my wife, my son- give me the ring!” She demands, hand shaking.

“Easy, it’s yours,” Max says, slipping off the ring. 

She’s all relief, grateful tears slipping down her cheeks. “They’re gonna be okay,” she murmurs. “Can’t let anyone know,” she adds, squeezes the trigger.

.

Alicia is in their apartment from before, the one down in Baton Rogue. They’d stayed there for nearly a month in ‘15, hot lazy days filled with cajun shrimp and slow sex. A vampire nest in Texas had made them leave, and late nights afterwards Max often thought about going back. They even talked about it sometimes, like they might grow old enough to retire. 

“Took you long enough,” Alicia says, beckoning him over. It’s nothing like doll-her was, and he feels dizzy, doesn’t know how he quasi-convinced himself they might be the same for so long. 

Max wets his lips, “Alicia, I-”

“I know,” she says softly, gestures to the little tv that never worked when they were there. “I saw.”

“I’m sorry,” he says, coming closer. Her kiss tastes like absolution, her touch a benediction. She’s always been his heaven. 

Alicia tightens her arms around him, “My idiot. You’re here now, that’s all that matters.”


End file.
